On the morning of January 20, 1918, British and German forces clash in the Aegean Sea when the German battleships Goeben and Breslau attempt a surprise raid on Allied forces off the Dardanelle Straits.

The Goeben and Breslau—the same two swift, powerful cruisers that had famously eluded capture by the British in the Dardanelles in 1914 to reach Constantinople and bring Turkey into the war on the side of Germany—had attempted to leave the Dardanelles and head towards Salonika, Greece, when they encountered the British fleet. Just after sunrise on January 20, the Goeben and Breslau fired upon and sank two British monitors, the HMS Raglan and the M28, leaving 127 sailors dead.

With two British destroyers, Tigress and Lizard, in pursuit, the German ships continued heading south toward Lemnos Island. The two ships rounded Cape Kephalo and were driven into a British minefield where Breslau was sunk, killing 208 men. Goeben turned back and attempted to tow Breslau to safety, until it too suffered severe damage after striking several mines and was forced to run aground near Chanak (now Cannanakale) in the Dardanelles. Repaired and put back into action on January 26, the hardy Goeben sailed to Sevastopol for the surrender of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in early May. At the end of the war, the ship was formally turned over to the Turks and in 1930 became the flagship of the Turkish navy; it was retired in 1950.

(...) As some historians have suggested, this was the beginning of the end of the strike. Full blown military intervention was a premonition of the upcoming international struggle, that would ultimately result in the end of the strike. For many miners, they either left the Island, or trickled back into the mines as their union's ability to support them crumbled. For those who were charged in connection with the riot, however, a slightly different path followed. After the trials in which a large number were given the longest sentences possible, a campaign to reduce their sentences and free them was launched by the Miners's Liberation League. When Joseph Mairs died, on 20 January 1914, this campaign received an enormous boost. Public tag days using a picture of Mairs raised money to pressure the government to release the miners, and in April 1914 that was done, many of them far short of the full term of their sentences. Although they returned to communities still on strike, much had changed. The willingness of the state to intervene on behalf of the coal mine owners made it clear to strikers that they had little hope of winning the strike. When the war broke out, attention turned away from the Island mines for all but those who worked in them and lived on their fruit. (...)

http://www.sfu.ca/labour/StrikeOutline.htm_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

1914, 20 January - Sazonov and Tsar discuss Liman von Sanders in Turkey and competeing with Austria over binding Poles to the Russian state

http://www.gwpda.org/wwi-www/willnick/timeline.htm_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

http://www.agindepers.nl/kwestie/AM-20-1-1917.html_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

http://www.iisg.nl/today/nl/20-01.php_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

Wednesday 20th January 1915 - Shooting, scored 27 out of 35 at 25 yds. Out of practice, 5th time. While others shot at improvised ranges, we did rifle exercises. 3 bulls, 4 inners ¼ in. off bull and close together.

11.30 and 12.30 company drill under colonel. Enjoyed it. Officers at sea. Jarrard didn’t know what to do. Formed mass, 4 lines of platoons in fours at 20 yds distance ect [sic].

Afternoon went on moors top side of Roper’s Hill and practised attack. Formed part of supports. Sleet falling, lay on damp moors, climbed lot of walls. Holmes [scouted?] with rifle at slope. 7-9 practised attack on parade ground, no noise. Line of platoons in fours [ ] by line of men, formed 2 deep, formed line, charged with linked hands. To dig trenches form line at 2 paces interval, [ ] slope [ ] put pick and shovel down [ ].

http://www.pals.org.uk/sheffield/casey_diary01.htm_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

Letter of Major General Zubov, the Commander of Kars Castle, to the Commander of the Caucasus Armies Headquarters dated 20 January 1915:

“I request you to inform me which Armenian units were formed at the Caucasus by indicating the names of their commanders, also who they are depended on and which ones were sent to Kars for to be billeted. This information is particularly important for the are some serious disagreements based on murder, looting and every kind of aggression between the population and the units because of the undisciplined behavior of the soldiers, which can be realized right away.”

HMS Conquest was a C-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was part of the Caroline group of the C-class of cruisers.

She was laid down in March 1914, launched 20 January 1915 and commissioned into the navy in June 1915. She was assigned to the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron, Harwich Force, guarding the eastern approaches to the English Channel. She was damaged on 25 April 1916 by German battlecruisers during the German raid of Lowestoft. On 5 June 1917 Conquest sank the German destroyer S 20, and in July 1918 she was damaged by a mine and needed to be repaired. She survived the war, but was considered obsolete before the outbreak of the Second World War and was sold on 29 August 1930 to Metal Industries, of Rosyth to be broken up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Conquest_(1915)_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

20 January 1915 – Death of philanthropist Sir Arthur Edward Guinness, Baron Ardilaun, at his residence, St. Anne’s, Clontarf. He was head of the family brewing business, 1868-77, and M.P. for Dublin 1868-69 and 1874-80. He restored Marsh’s Library, extended the Coombe Hospital, and bought, laid out and presented to Dublin city the public park of twenty-two acres now known as St. Stephen’s Green.

http://www.dublinheritage.ie/dublindiary/index.htm_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

One of the most unusual entries in the Medal Card Index is "Taffy the IV" who was awarded the 1914 Star. He was attached to 2nd Battalion Welsh Regiment and his rank was "The Regimental Goat". Taffy entered France on 13 August 1914 and saw active service in the Retreat from Mons, the first great Battle of Ypres and Gheuveldt and finally, Festubert and Givenchy. His medal card notes that he died on 20 January 1915.

INVESTIGATION OF AN ACCIDENT WHICH OCCURRED ON THE CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND & PACIFIC RAILWAY NEAR WINSTON, MO., JANUARY 20, 1916.

On January 20, 1916, there was a derailment of a passenger train on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway near Winston, Mo., which resulted in the death of one employee and the injury of 6 passengers, 5 employees and 3 mail clerks. After an investigation as to the nature and cause of this accident the Chief of the Division of Safety submits the following report:

Lees verder op http://www.railaccrep.com/single.php?report=1916-006_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

20th January - On this date our headquarters were heavily shelled, and a shell hit a house near our Battalion Headquarters and it was reported that two men were badly wounded. Captain Kerr RAMC and a Lieutenant Towers dashed across the road to give them assistance. As they were clearing away bricks and rubbish which had fallen on the men, another shell landed in the same place and Lieutenant Towers was mortally wounded and died on his way to Bethune. The regiment marched to Gorre.

Named casualties:
Lieutenant Grainger Towers, 27, died of wounds received while rescuing wounded men in Givenchy on 20 January 1916. A native of Richmond in Surrey, he is buried in Bethune Town Cemetery.

http://www.1914-1918.net/Diaries/wardiary-1kings.htm_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

Mrs Mooney, Mount, Sally, Birr, has received the following letter;--20th January, 1916, France.

“Dear Mrs Mooney—My heart breaks to write and tell you the sad news of the death of your son, James, who was killed on the 17th inst. He was young to give his life, but gave it willingly, and when I saw him in death he had a brave smile on his face and looked peaceful. He did not suffer, but was killed outright, and will see a cross is put over his grave. Mother of God, who also lost her son, and she will give you comfort in your sorrow. With deep sympathy. ---Yours truly, Denis Doyle, Chaplain.

http://livinghistory.ie/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=303&p=13120_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

Countries which have been broken (Belgium, Serbia, and Montenegro) will have to be re-established and rebuilt.
England will always pursue her programme of a rigorous continuation of the war until Montenegro and Serbia are reintegrated as independent kingdoms.

http://www.montenegro.org/quotes.html_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

On 20 January 1916, Joffre told Haig that by the end of April he would have five offensives prepared. Three would be in the south-east, one in the Champagne and one on the Oise-Somme front as discussed. But which one would be selected would depend on the military situation. Meanwhile it would be important for the enemy to be worn down. He requested that Haig attack north of the Somme on a large scale - a minimum 7 mile front - about 20 April 1916. This had no strategic intent but was simply to cause damage to the enemy. It would therefore not be part of a great offensive in which a large force of 15-18 British Divisions could be deployed, but only as part of a war of attrition - a "bataille d'usure" - to soften up the enemy beforehand. Haig said he could not agree: his forces would not be ready, its would be politically unacceptable at home and would be regarded by the enemy as defeat.

http://www.1914-1918.net/bat15A.htm_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

20th January 1917: General Hoskins succeeds General Smuts in command of British forces, East Africa.

http://www.greatwar.co.uk/timeline/ww1-events-1917.htm_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

'The War Illustrated’ 20th January 1917: 'Winter Quarters on the Somme'By Basil Clarke

Getting Through the Winter

“Caesar then led his army into winter quarters." This sentence, or something like it, occurred so frequently in one's school Latin that as a youth I often paused in plodding through it (more laboriously than through Somme mud) to wonder what winter quarters could be like. For if anywhere in those writings of Caesar's an explanation of the term is given I must have skipped it as I did much other, no doubt, excellent prose written by that worthy Roman.

The thought occurred to me again the other clay on the Somme front, when I wakened one morning to find the water in my bath ewer coated with half an inch of ice, and looked out of the windows to see the trees and the ground white with frost. How much more comfortable war would be if modern generals, British and Hun, could lead off their respective armies into "winter quarters " - whatever they are - as the generals of Caesar's day seem so regularly to have done! Nice snug winter quarters - for so I always pictured them - how our poor lads now plugging away so resolutely on the Somme would relish a month or two's slack time in snug billets !

Clothes and the Man

But modern war does not admit of that, and cruel as winter fighting is they must nevertheless "carry on." Still there is no reason why the hardiest fighter should not make himself as comfortable as possible in whatever circumstances he is placed, and this our fellows are pretty good at doing. They can move into no special winter billets, of course, nor can they get much specially winter provision apart from a few extra clothes. But by ingenuity and nimbleness of wit they contrive somehow to dull the sharper edge of winter's tooth. Suffer they must, and badly, but without that ingenuity they would fare even more badly still.

The first winter measure, of course, is to get the right clothes ; for without these no ingenuity would resist the freezing bite of Somme air. In the matter of clothes, Tommy does not "grouse" much, for the Army is pretty generous. In the old days of the war the first thing was to get hold of a goat-skin coat with the fur on, and cloaked in one of these grey skins Thomas considered himself something of a "nut." But with the risk of contact with Somme mud - of which an ordinary topcoat, if thoroughly immersed in it, will pick up thirty or more pounds weight, any long-haired garment became impracticable and in place of goat-skin coats, sleeved waistcoats of yellow leather are being issued. These are worn under the tunic. Leather is really the only thing that will resist effectually the cold, wet winds and fogs of the Somme. Another garment that one sees worn a good deal at the front at these times is a leather jerkin without sleeves to fit over the tunic.

Waders and "Palm Cloths”

Working-parties, who want their arms free are often equipped with this garment. It is both warm and rain-proof . Rubber trench boots and waders (a much longer kind of footwear) are also in great demand for all districts in which the mud does not actually pull things off your legs. But they seem harder to get this year for some reason. Tommy says there are not enough, while the storekeepers say Tommy does not look after them as he should, and that careless use has made them scarce. Which is the right end of the story I cannot judge, but it would seem possible to establish some means. of issuing rubbers and waders to such troops as are going into trenches - just as lamps are issued to miners entering a pit - to be returned to the issuing store and cleaned up and dried in time for reissue. You would need double sets of course, but the method would be an economical one in the long run.

Mittens, gloves, comforters, and wool caps - these may be rated among the luxuries of equipment, but it is to be noticed this winter that most Tommies have managed to get hold of them from somewhere. But not all. I was watching some lads unloading shells one frosty December morning - a morning on which any metal, filing such as a shell-case took to itself a temperature that made it like a hot thing to touch - and these lads had made for themselves queer palm cloths out of layers of sacking, cut to fit the palm of the hand and the fingers and looped with string round the wrist and round each finger. Thus the backs of the hands and fingers were exposed, but the palms and insides of the fingers which came in contact with the shells were protected.

Cold Drink and “Iron Rations"

In the trenches themselves the difficulty of keeping warm is well-nigh insuperable. For fires are not allowed. It was found that whenever a waft of smoke rose front a trench fire the Germans promptly sent over mortar or shells or hand-grenades - feeling pretty sure of course, that wherever there was a fire there also would be. a little knot of Tommies gathered round it. And generally, unfortunately, they were right. So after several little. disasters due to trench fires, they were forbidden. If hot rations could always be carried up to the trenches things, though bad, would not be so very bad. But hot rations are not always practicable. For no rations could possibly be kept hot over some of the difficult and slow journeys that have to be made between front trenches and support trenches. When it takes your food-party six or seven hours to get to the rear to fetch rations, you could not expect them in really cold weather to arrive back with anything even lukewarm. Cold drink and "iron rations " (tinned food) are common fare in the trenches, and precious cold comfort they must be. Rum is served out in many division and very welcome it is. But not in all, for here and there is a general who forbids the rum ration.

Trench Fires without Smoke

For your three or four days spell in the trenches then, you can generally count on a chilling time. You may suffer perishing cold that seems to defy all the leather and all the wool that you can pile on to your poor anatomy. One excellent little idea is gaining ground among the men, and it is one which I think the authorities might look upon with a fatherly eye. It is the Primus stove club-custom, which is spreading, especially, among the richer regiments. It is simply that three or four of your pals of a company, club together to buy a Primus stove. It has an oil reservoir, a little hand-pump, and a burner. You heat up the burner with some oil to pump up the pressure, prod the burner holes with a pin to clear them of burnt oil, and away goes the stove-burner into a circle of blue flame, which roars with a pleasing little drone of its own that is quite companionable - and not loud enough to be overheard by Fritz in the enemy's trench. There is no smoke at all - just a little ring of roaring, blue flame. Very "devilish" it looks down in the blackness of a trench on a dark night.

As these stoves and the fuel for them are not an Army issue, the trouble is to get your oil fuel up to the front line.. You may carry up a small supply, begged, borrowed, bought, or stolen, from someone down at your rest billets ; but there is nothing like regularity of supply and private supplies tugged up to the trenches with infinite labour soon give out. Paraffin is the right fuel, but, it is not easy to get and you find daring young campaigners using petrol begged, borrowed, bought, or stolen from a friendly motor-driver "away behind." The Primus in a trench is invaluable, not because you can warm yourself on a cold day by its modest heat, but because you can prepare on it warm drink, and can warm up "iron rations” so that they in their turn warm you.

One little Primus club that I came across warmed up all their tinned food before they opened it. The method is to put the food tins into water boiling on the Primus.

Bully beef, Maconochie, stew, salmon and the rest were all served hot in this "club." One genius of the party heated a tin of jam, vowing that no other food was really so hot and so warming as hot jam. They dipped their spoons into the tin and ate it so hot that the tears ran down their eyes. Still you can stand heat in quantities out on the Somme.

In billets and dug-outs, the "winter quarters" problems of the soldier are less difficult, if stiff difficult enough. The chimney of the cellar under a ruin in which you live may rebel utterly at even the ghost of a fire. Smoke may refuse utterly to find its way up that chimney and you may be confronted with this alternative - either to freeze or to choke. Which would you choose ? You would probably do as Tommy does and choose a little of each by turn. But if human ingenuity can make that chimney "draw," enough human ingenuity will generally be found among the occupants of the average cellar billet. You will see chimney-pipes made out of petrol-cans, cut up and fitted. One. cellar I visited had had an entirely new ventilating and chimney-shaft cut out of the solid brick and stone.

Another had an old iron stove with a new flue-pipe made of empty tins, with the lids off and the bottom cut out. This pipe was rather loose jointed and would have fallen down with a push, but it took away most of the smoke.

Brown Paper Blankets

Sometimes your billet has no fireplace, and then you have a fire in a brazier or an old bucket punctured at intervals always provided you can beg, borrow, or steal a bucket or brazier. This open fire is not so bad if your billet is an old barn which lets out the smoke - and lets in the wind at a thousand draught holes, but if the billet is a dug-out or a cellar you may go through heroic sufferings from smoke in return for warmth. Stout brown paper, sacking, and old blankets are in great request just now for patching up leaky billet windows, Brown paper, it has also been found by cold soldiers, makes a very good and warm lining to a waistcoat, or put between blankets has almost the warmth of an extra blanket. Newspapers are used for this purpose also. "There is a good deal. of crackling and rustling among a billetful of sleepers, using these extra blankets of paper," said my informant, "especially if they are fidgety sleepers ; but you don't mind a bit of extra row in the night if only you are warm.

Making Friends with the Cook

Winter diet is not much different from summer diet at the front. Tea and " bully," " Maconochie - and the rest are the same as usual, but there is a big preference for taking them hot. It is noticed that our men will eat more fat in winter and fat is of course, the best thing for keeping out the cold, as any Russian soldier will tell you. When the bacon is grilled or fried on a winter's morning (this is not possible, of course, in front trenches), there are a greater number of men, it is to be noticed, who creep along to the cook with a slice of bread and ask him to fry it in the fat of the bacon. You have to be very good friend with the cook or the cook's mate to get this privilege. Failing that, you must be content to have your bread merely dipped in the liquid fat of the bacon.

The fuel difficulty is not always easy to overcome. If your quarters are in the neighbourhood of a coal dump, supplies of coal may come up regularly enough, but otherwise it means foraging for fuel. You go out and beg it, or you "win” it - which is the Army euphemism for stealing it. I know one officer who used to have a little office near headquarters. He was allowed two sacks of coal a week after October. It was a small office, and he was a man who would not have a fire unless it was bitterly cold.

The coalman came along in the second week, and the occupier said : "It's all right. You need not leave any coal this week. I have not used up my last supply.” - “That can't be helped, sir," said the man. “My orders are to leave two sacks of coal here every week, and two sacks you'll have to have, sir.” It was a small office, I said. Before winter had thoroughly arrived you could not pick your way about it for coal-sacks.

Dear Madam. Just a few lines to tell you that we received George’s parcel quite safe. I shared the contents between his mates. Poor George was shot by a sniper on December 10th which proved fatal. Dear Madam you can rest assured that he was buried soon after he was killed that night. I have been a freind of George ever since we joined up together. We went from Herne Bay together and we both did our training at Crowborough in Sussex. He was a good mate and very affectionate and he was liked by everyone in the company. I shall be very pleased if you would write to me and let me know if you received this letter alright.

THESES BY LENIN ON THE QUESTION OF THE IMMEDIATE CONCLUSION OF A SEPARATE AND ANNEXATIONIST PEACE, 20 January 1918

1. The position of the Russian revolution at the present moment is that nearly all the workers and the vast majority of the peasants are undoubtedly in favour of Soviet government and of the Socialist revolution which it has started. To that extent the Socialist revolution in Russia is assured.

2. At the same time, the civil war, provoked by the frantic resistance of the wealthy classes, who fully realize that they are faced with the last, decisive fight for the preservation of private ownership of the land and means of production, has not yet reached its climax. The victory of Soviet government in this war is assured, but some time must inevitably elapse, no little exertion of effort will inevitably be demanded, a certain period of acute economic disruption and chaos, such as attend all wars, and civil war in particular, is inevitable, before the resistance of the bourgeoisie is crushed.

3. Furthermore, this resistance, in its less active and non-military forms-sabotage, corruption of the declassed elements and of agents of the bourgeoisie, who worm their way into the ranks of the Socialists in order to ruin their cause, and so on and so forth-has proved so stubborn and capable of assuming such diversified forms, that the fight to counter it will inevitably still take some time, and, in its main forms, is scarcely likely to end before several months. And unless the passive and covert resistance of the bourgeoisie and its supporters is definitely crushed, the Socialist revolution cannot possibly succeed.

4. Lastly, the organizational problems of the Socialist reformation of Russia are so immense and difficult that their solution-in view of the abundance of petty-bourgeois fellow-travellers of the Socialist proletariat, and of the latter's low cultural level-will demand a fairly long time.

5. All these circumstances taken together are such as to make it perfectly clear that for the success of Socialism in Russia a certain amount of time, not less than several months at least, will be necessary, during which the hands of the Socialist Government must be absolutely free for the job of vanquishing the bourgeoisie in our own country first, and of arranging widespread and far-reaching mass organizational work.

6. The situation of the Socialist revolution in Russia must form the basis of any definition of the international tasks of our Soviet state, for the international situation in the fourth year of the war is such that it is quite impossible to calculate the probable moment of outbreak of revolution or overthrow of any of the European imperialist govern ments (including the German). That the Socialist revolution in Europe must come, and will come, is beyond doubt. All our hopes for the final victory of Socialism are founded on this certainty and on this scientific prognosis. Our propagandist activities in general, and the organization of fraternization in particular, must be intensified and extended. But it would be a mistake to base the tactics of the Russian Socialist Government on an attempt to determine whether the European, and especially the German, Socialist revolution will take place in the next six months (or some such brief period), or not. Inasmuch as it is quite impossible to determine this, all such attempts, objectively speaking, would be nothing but a blind gamble.

7. The peace negotiations in Brest-Litovsk have by this date-7 [20 January 1918]-made it perfectly clear that the upper hand in the German government (which leads the other governments of the Quadruple Alliance by the halter) has undoubtedly been gained by the military party, which has virtually already presented Russia with an ultimatum (and it is to be expected, most certainly to be expected, that any day now it will be presented formally). The ultimatum is as follows: either the continuation of the war, or an annexationist peace, i.e., peace on condition that we surrender all the territory we occupy, while the Germans retain all the territory they occupy and impose upon us an indemnity (outwardly disguised as payment for the maintenance of prisoners)-an indemnity of about three thousand million rubles, payable over a period of several years.

8. The Socialist government of Russia is faced with the question which brooks no postponement-of whether to accept this annexationist peace now, or at once to wage a revolutionary war. Actually speaking, no middle course is possible. No further postponement is now feasible, for we have already done everything possible and impossible artificially to protract the negotiations.

9. Examining the arguments in favour of an immediate revolutionary war, the first we encounter is the argument that a separate peace at this juncture would, objectively speaking, be tantamount to an agreement with the German imperialists, an 'imperialistic deal', and so forth, and that, consequently, such a peace would be at complete variance with the fundamental principles of proletarian internationalism.

But this argument is clearly incorrect. Workers who lose a strike and [word illegible] terms for the resumption of work which are unfavourable to them and favourable to the capitalists, do not betray Socialism. Only those betray Socialism who barter to secure advantages for a section of the workers in exchange for advantages to the capitalists; only such agreements are impermissible in principle.

Whoever calls a war with German imperialism a defensive and just war, but actually receives support from the Anglo-French imperialists, and conceals from the people secret treaties concluded with them, betrays Socialism. Whoever, without concealing anything from the people, and without concluding any secret treaties with the imperialists, agrees to terms of peace which are unfavourable to the weak nation and favourable to the imperialists of one group, if at the given moment he has no strength to continue the war, does not betray Socialism in the slightest degree.

10. Another argument in favour of immediate war is that, by concluding peace, we, objectively speaking, become agents of German imperialism, for we afford it the opportunity to release troops from our front, surrender to it millions of prisoners, and the like. But this argument too is clearly incorrect, for a revolutionary war at the present juncture would, objectively speaking, make us agents of Anglo-French imperialism, by providing it with forces which would promote its aims. The British bluntly offered our commander-in-chief, Krylenko, one hundred rubles per month for every one of our soldiers provided we continued the war. Even if we did not take a single kopek from the Anglo-French, we nevertheless would be helping them, objectively speaking, by diverting part of the German army.

From that point of view, in neither case would we be entirely escaping some sort of imperialist tie, and it is obvious that it is impossible to do so entirely without overthrowing world imperialism. The correct conclusion from this is that the moment a Socialist government triumphs in any one country, questions must be decided, not from the point of view of whether this or that imperialism is preferable, but exclusively from the point of view of the conditions which best make for the development and consolidation of the Socialist revolution which has already begun.

In other words, the underlying principle of our tactics must not be, which of the two imperialisms is it more profitable to aid at this juncture, but rather, how can the Socialist revolution be most surely and reliably ensured the possibility of consolidating itself, or, at least, of maintaining itself in one country until it is joined by other countries.

11. It is said that the German Social-Democratic opponents of the war have now become 'defeatists' and are requesting us not to yield to German imperialism. But we recognized defeatism only in respect to one's own imperialist bourgeoisie, and we always discountenanced victory over an alien imperialism, victory attained in formal or actual alliance with a 'friendly' imperialism, as a method impermissible in principle and generally obnoxious.

This argument is therefore only a modification of the previous one. If the German Left Social-Democrats were proposing that we delay concluding a separate peace for a definite period, and guaranteed revolutionary action in Germany in this period, the question might assume a different aspect for us. But far from saying this, the German Lefts formally declare: 'Stick it out as long as you can, but decide the question from the standpoint of the state of affairs in the Russian Socialist revolution, for we cannot promise you anything positive regarding the German revolution.'

12. It is said that in a number of party statements we positively 'promised' a revolutionary war, and that by concluding a separate peace we would be going back on our word.

That is not true. We said that in the era of imperialism it was necessarily for a Socialist government to 'prepare for and wage' a revolutionary war; we said this as a means of countering abstract pacificism and the theory that 'defense of the fatherland' must be completely rejected in the era of imperialism, and, lastly, as a means of countering the purely egotistical instincts of a part of the soldiery, but we never gave any pledge to start a revolutionary war without taking account of how far it is possible to wage it at any given moment.

Unquestionably, even at this juncture we must prepare for a revolutionary war. We are carrying out this promise, as we have in general carried out all our promises that could be carried out at once; we annulled the secret treaties, offered all nations a fair peace, and several times did our best to drag out peace negotiations so as to give other nations a chance to join us.

But the question whether it is possible to wage a revolutionary war now and at once must be decided exclusively from the standpoint of whether material conditions permit it, and of the interests of the Socialist revolution which has already begun.

13. Having weighed up the arguments in favour of an immediate revolutionary war, we are forced to the conclusion that such a policy might perhaps answer the human yearning for the beautiful, dramatic and striking, but that it would absolutely ignore the objective relation of class forces and material factors in the present stage of the Socialist revolution which has begun.

14. There can be no doubt but that our army is absolutely in no condition at the present moment, and will not be for the next few weeks (and probably for the next few months), to resist a German offensive successfully; firstly, owing to the extreme fatigue and exhaustion of the majority of the soldiers, coupled with the incredible chaos in the matter of victualling, replacement of the overfatigued, etc.: secondly, owing to the utter unfitness of our horses, which would doom our artillery to inevitable destruction; and thirdly, owing to the utter impossibility of defending the coast from Riga to Revel, which affords the enemy a certain chance of conquering the rest of Livonia, and then Estonia, and of outflanking a large part of our forces, and lastly, of capturing Petrograd.

15. Further, there is not the slightest doubt that the peasant majority of our army would at the present juncture unreservedly declare in favour of an annexationist peace, and not of an immediate revolutionary war; for the Socialist reorganization of the army, the merging of the Red Guard detachments with it, and the like, have only just begun.

With the army completely democratized, to wage war in defiance of the wishes of the majority of the soldiers would be sheer recklessness, while to create a really staunch and ideologically-strong Socialist workers' and peasants' army will require months and months, at least.

16. The poor peasants in Russia are capable of supporting a Socialist revolution led by the working class, but they are not capable of a serious revolutionary war immediately, at the present juncture. To ignore this objective relation of class forces in the present instance would be a fatal error.

17. Consequently, the situation at present in regard to a revolutionary war is as follows:

If the German revolution were to break out and triumph in the coming three or four months, the tactics of an immediate revolutionary war might perhaps not ruin our Socialist revolution.

If, however, the German revolution does not eventuate in the next few months, the course of events, if the war is continued, will inevitably be such that a smashing defeat will compel Russia to conclude a far more disadvantageous separate peace, a peace, moreover, which would be concluded, not by a Socialist government, but by some other (for example, a bloc of the bourgeois Rada and the Chernovites, or something similar). For the peasant army, which is unendurably exhausted by the war, will, after the first defeats-and very likely within a matter not of months but of weeks-overthrow the Socialist workers' government.

18. Such being the state of affairs, it would be absolutely impermissible tactics to stake the fate of the Socialist revolution which has begun in Russia merely on the chance that the German revolution may begin in the immediate future, within a period measurable in weeks. Such tactics would be a reckless gamble. We have no right to take such risks.

19. And the German revolution will not be jeopardized, as far as its objective foundations are concerned, if we conclude a separate peace. Probably the chauvinist intoxication will weaken it for a time, but Germany's position will remain extremely grave, the war with Britain and America will be a protracted one, and the aggressive imperialism of both sides has been fully and completely exposed. A Socialist Soviet Republic in Russia will stand as a living example to the peoples of all countries, and the propaganda and revolutionizing effect of this example will be immense. There-the bourgeois system and an absolutely naked war of aggrandizement of two groups of marauders. Here-peace and a Socialist Soviet Republic.

20. In concluding a separate peace we free ourselves as much as is possible at the present moment from both hostile imperialist groups, we take advantage of their mutual enmity and warfare-which hamper concerted action on their part against us-and for a certain period have our hands free to advance and consolidate the Socialist revolution. The reorganization of Russia on the basis of the dictatorship of the proletariat, and the nationalization of the banks and large-scale industry, coupled with exchange of products in kind between the towns and the small peasants-consumers' societies, is economically quite feasible, provided we are assured a few months in which to work in peace. And such a reorganization will render Socialism invincible both in Russia and all over the world, and at the same time will create a solid economic basis for a mighty workers' and peasants' Red Army.

21. A really revolutionary war at this juncture would mean a war waged by a Socialist republic on the bourgeois countries, with the main aim clearly defined and fully approved by the Socialist army-of overthrowing the bourgeoisie in other countries. However, we obviously cannot set ourselves this aim at the given moment. Objectively, we would be fighting now for the liberation of Poland, Lithuania and Courland. But no Marxist, without flying in the face of the principles of Marxism and of Socialism generally, can deny that the interests of Socialism are higher than the interests of the right of nations to self-determination. Our Socialist republic has done all it could, and continues to do all it can to give effect to the right to self-determination of Finland ' the Ukraine, etc. But if the concrete position of affairs is such that the existence of the Socialist republic is being imperilled at the present moment on account of the violation of the right to self-determination of several nations (Poland, Lithuania, Courland, etc.), naturally the preservation of the Socialist republic has the higher claim.

Consequently, whoever says, 'We cannot sign a shameful, indecent, etc., peace, betray Poland, and so forth', fails to observe that by concluding peace on condition that Poland is liberated, we would only still further be strengthening German imperialism against England, Belgium, Serbia and other countries. Peace on condition of the liberation of Poland, Lithuania, and Courland would be a 'patriotic' peace from the Point of view of Russia, but would none the less be a peace with the amexationists, with the German imperialists.

General Sir Beauchamp Duff, GCB, GCSI, KCVO, CIE, KStJ (17 February 1855–20 January 1918), was a Scottish officer with a distinguished military career in the British Indian Army serving as Commander-in-Chief of India during World War I. (...)

During the war, the Mesopotamian Campaign was under the responsibility of the Indian Army up until the disaster surrounding the surrender at Kut.

The campaign started well with the landing in Basra in November 1914, but the attack on Baghdad by 9,000 troops of the 6th Indian Division commanded by General Townshend in 1915 ended in catastrophe when the remnants of the British invasion force were surrounded in Kut El Amara, and three attempts to relieve the trapped British and Indian troops also ended in failure, at the cost of 23,000 lives. The surrender on 29 April 1916 was described as one of the worst military disasters of the British Army.

Consequently, Duff was relieved of command on 1 October 1916.

In 1917, the Mesopotamia Commission of Enquiry was damning in its conclusions. While General Townshend was exonerated, the Commission was harsh towards the Government of India and Duff together with the Viceroy, Lord Hardinge. Both were found to have showed: little desire to help and some desire actually to obstruct the energetic prosecution of the war. (RMCE, p. 123)

General Nixon, the Commander-in-Chief of the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force, was also held responsible for the failed campaign.

Unable to live with the shame, Duff committed suicide on 20 January 1918.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauchamp_Duff_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

The Battle of Imbros was a naval action that took place during the First World War. The battle occurred on 20 January 1918 when an Ottoman squadron engaged a flotilla of the British Royal Navy off the island of Imbros in the Aegean Sea. A lack of heavy Allied warships in the area allowed the Ottoman battlecruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim and light cruiser Midilli to sortie into the Mediterranian and attack the British monitors and destroyers at Imbros before assaulting the naval base at Mudros.

Although the Ottoman forces managed to complete their objective of destroying the British monitors at Imbros, the battle turned sour for them as they sailed through a minefield while withdrawing. Midilli was sunk and Yavuz Sultan Selim heavily damaged. Although Yavuz Sultan Selim managed to beach herself within the Dardanelles, she was subjected to days of air attacks until she was towed to safety. With the most modern cruiser of the Ottoman Navy sunk and her only battlecruiser out of action, the battle effectively curtailed the Ottoman Navy's offensive capability until the end of the war.

Lees verder op http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Imbros_(1918)_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

(...) With the decree issued on 20 January, 1918, the People's Commissariat for State Welfare began to set in order and reorganise lying-in hospitals. The decree ordered that all lying-in hospitals and all centres, clinics and institutes of gynaecology and midwifery be transferred to the Department for the Protection of Mother and Child. The decree also ordered that medical services for expectant mothers be organised on the basis of three new principles: 1) that medical assistance be available to all needy mothers, i.e., that the doors of lying-in hospitals be opened precisely to the poorest section of the female population - workers, peasants and office workers; 2) that doctors be paid a state salary so as to abolish the advantages enjoyed by more prosperous women able to pay the doctor for his services, thereby ending the inequality between poor and prosperous expectant and nursing mothers; 3) that expectant and nursing mothers, particularly the poor, be protected against a view which saw them as 'sacrifices to science' on whom unskilled midwives and young students gained practice. No one, noted the decree, has the right to view, a woman fulfilling her sacred but painful civic duty of motherhood as a 'sacrifice to science'. The decree also replaced one-year midwifery courses with two-year courses, and the trainee midwives were permitted to assist at deliveries only in the second year. (...)

Major F W Smith was posted in as Commanding Officer on 18 October 1917, and it fell to him to take the Squadron to France. Lt. A V Sutton was Equipment Officer, and Lt. R V Bramwell-Davis and Lt. C T Clarke were Recording Officer and Armament Officer respectively. The final mobilisation took place very hurriedly and Transport and some personnel left Portsmouth on the 20th January 1918, the remaining personnel of the Squadron sailed from Southampton to Le Havre on the 21st January, and the aircraft flew over in formation on the 23rd January led by Major Smith. All the machines of the Squadron arrived safely over without incident, with the exception of one Bristol flown by Lt. A R James, (passenger Cpl. A B Clarke) which came down in the Channel and sank. The pilot and passenger were rescued by a patrol boat from Dunkerque.

http://www.apw.airwar1.org.uk/no62sqn.htm_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

For five days from 20 January 1918, cyclonic rain fell continuously in and around Rockhampton and throughout the Fitzroy Basin. Downpours in the headwaters a fortnight earlier meant the river was already swollen. With the latest falls, the river broke its banks, despite desperate sandbagging, and left elevated parts of the town marooned as an island in a vast sea of brown swirling waters. The smaller, separate municipality of North Rockhampton lay further isolated across the raging river. With hundreds of homes inundated, Police Inspector McGrath and Mayor Kingel coordinated the task of evacuating people in dinghies and the few motorboats then available. Some 1380 people alone were rescued from the ‘swamp’ or Depot Hill area and, in other areas, many more escaped by foot. In the days that followed, eight people drowned in the floodwaters—seven men and one woman.

20th January 1918 - Captured a spy at signal pit. What a pity the cinema man wasn't on the scene. Lts Mackenzie, Sparrow, Sgt Williams and myself were enjoying a few selections on the mess gramophone when a message came through "Suspected spy seen on this front today wearing uniform of officer DSO, MC and carrying Boche rifle" Ten minutes later the identical party came to the signal pit and enquired for the road to Bosco. Mac and Sparrow promised to show him the way and Mac picked up his revolver as he went out. The next second Sparrow snatched the rifle and Mac pinned the spy's arms. He was marched off to HQ where he was released on showing his passport. Mac was wild.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/tedspires/Diary.htm_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

Advertisement for the Eaton's department store of the January 20, 1919 edition of The Toronto World newspaper

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eaton's_advertisement_January_1919.JPG_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

Officers, NCOs and sailors on the hospital ship "Amphitrite", arrived at the Port of Smyrni on 20th January 1919

Meer foto's!... http://smyrni.s5.com/photo_album_1.htm_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

Your very interesting and highly appreciated letter arrived day before yesterday and I was most happy to hear from you especially that you had out fought and conquered the "flu." I only heard you had it about a week before I got your letter saying you were getting well. You've no idea how uneasy I've been with you and Mary and Bess all sick with the dreadful thing. I guess I can somewhat appreciate how the home folks felt when we were a little under fire. Our risks do not seem to have been one half as great as those for whom we supposed we were taking them. For my part I've had a very enjoyable trip, have seen France after dark mostly and on foot some times, really got to see some pretty severe fighting (from a safe distance), have collected a few souvenirs, been to Paris

Nice and Marseilles and since I can't go to Jerusalem and Constantinople, I am very anxious that Woodie cease his gallevantin' around and send us home at once and quickly. As far as we're concerned most of us don't give a whoop (to put it mildly) whether Russia has a Red Government or no Government and if the King of the Lollipops wants to slaughter his subjects or his Prime Minister it's all the same to us. The Hun is whipped and is fast killing and murdering himself so why should we be kept over here to brow beat a Peace Conference that'll skin us anyway. As I told you before Germany fought for land, England for sea (and she's got it) France for liberty and we fought for souvenirs (helmets, skulls, teeth and belt buckles principly [sic]) and I bet we've got several ship loads in the A.E.F. You've no idea how disgusting peace soldiering is to most of us. When there was a great object to be obtained we'd study our heads off to accomplish it, work at night, march half across France, sleep in the mud and do anything to get there. But now - well some old General has gone horse crazy and he sends around inspectors (mostly staff Cols & Majs who didn't get thier [sic] feet off the desk during the argument) who tell us that the horses need curryingmorning noon and night, that they must be fed chaff out of the hay, and if they won't eat it why salt it so they will. We haven't the salt most of the time. Then some other nut comes along and wants 'em to have oatmeal cooked and we don't get started on that until another one comes along and says not [to] do it. The next bird is a more maniac on soft soaping harness and another one forces us to make the men sleep with only three blankets when they've been used to four and so it goes from day to day. You know those fellows half of 'em never saw a man until they inspected thier [sic] first National Guard organization and the other half never saw a man nor a horse and as to hearing any shells drop well staff headquarters is always in a nice safe place emhasis on the safe. Most of 'em are West Pointers and old army men and you know that whena great many of those fellows were made the good Lord forgot to give 'em a good share of common sense. Next time they want a war fought I reckon the same kind of a bunch will fight it that fought this one and after it's over they'll give the professional fighters nice soft jobs just as they've done now. For my part I don't care a hoot because I'm going to be happy following a mule down a corn row for the rest of my happy existance [sic]. No one wants to be a proffessional [sic] soldier who is not as the youth who answered at West Point when they asked him why he wanted to go there; that the world was going to be divided into the oppressors and the oppressed and he wanted to be among the former. I bet he was of German extraction. Enough of such foolishness.

It's some work to keep 190 men out of devilment now. I have to think up all sorts of tortures for delinquents . It's very very lucky that we are far from wine women and song or we'd have one h--- of a time. Sometimes I have to soak a man with extra duty that I sure hate to punish. You know justice is an awful tyrant and if I give one man a nice kindly wagon to wash on Sunday because he went toVerdun without asking me if he could then I've got to give another one the same dose if he does the same thing even if he has the most plausible excuse. I'm crazy about every one of 'em and I wouldn't trade any ornerest [sic] buck private for anybody's top sergeant. It very nearly breaks my heart sometimes to have to be mean as the dickens to some nice boy who has been a model soldier on the front and whose mail I've probably censored and I know he's plum crazy about some nice girl at home but that makes no difference. I have to make 'em walk the chalk. You'd never recognize me when I'm acting Bty Commander.

I hope this won't bore you to death and that Aunt Ella and Uncle Joe, Nellie, Ruth and all the kids are well and happy and that you'll write me when you feel like it.

Robert Frost (1874–1963): "Not to Keep", from The Yale Review, January 1917

Not to Keep

THEY sent him back to her. The letter came
Saying… And she could have him. And before
She could be sure there was no hidden ill
Under the formal writing, he was in her sight,
Living. They gave him back to her alive—
How else? They are not known to send the dead—
And not disfigured visibly. His face?
His hands? She had to look, and ask,
“What was it, dear?” And she had given all
And still she had all—they had—they the lucky!
Wasn’t she glad now? Everything seemed won,
And all the rest for them permissible ease.
She had to ask, “What was it, dear?”

“Enough,
Yet not enough. A bullet through and through,
High in the breast. Nothing but what good care
And medicine and rest, and you a week,
Can cure me of to go again.” The same
Grim giving to do over for them both.
She dared no more than ask him with her eyes
How was it with him for a second trial.
And with his eyes he asked her not to ask.
They had given him back to her, but not to keep.

http://www.bartleby.com/155/9.html_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

Fred was born in Northamptonshire, England, the son of Ambrose Webber of 47 Park Road, Auburn. A "railway builder" by occupation, he enlisted in Australia on 28 November 1915. Fred was killed in action on 20 January 1916 and he is buried at Sailly-sur-la-lys Cemetery, near Estaires.

Thursday, 20th January, 1916 - This morning Beatrice was to have started school at Kensington she was to travel with Ruth Hoey but was not going to the school proper but a sort of annex for elder girls but at the last moment I got a letter which I did not think satis- factory so her departure was postponed The cab was at the door so Ethel & I went down to let Ruth know she was not going. Aunt Lily came out to have a walk on the Pier to see the “German Submarine" which turned out to be a British or French monitor disabled & came in for repairs As we reached home Beatrice came to meet us at the gate to say there was a wire to say Aunt Lily was to report herself before noon the next day in London. So you may imagine her feelings as she has been waiting since Marie left not knowing what day she would be called & then only to get such sudden summons. She got to St. Dymphnas packed up & reached the boat the girls met her there with Mother Sills Seasick Remedy*.

* [Popular seasick tablets. It's advertising tagline was "Has not a peer - the most delicate person can take it wiht impunity and laugh at mal de mere."]

Leuke site! Home page: http://dh.tcd.ie/martindiary/_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

From the Ambassador in Extraordinary Mission in Constantinople (Kuehlmann) to the Reichskanzler (Bethmann Hollweg)

Pera, 20 January 1917

Even if Mr. Elkus has so far avoided bringing up the Armenian question with the Turks in this connection, there can be no doubt that a revision of the extermination policy against the Armenians would be one of the Americans' demands. The Americans have done a great deal to rouse the Armenians intellectually and, in this way, indirectly contributed to the sad fate of the Turkish Armenians. Certain calming assurances in this connection would be necessary to silence the opposition of the pro-Armenian element in the United States against an economic rapprochement of the two countries. Although today's Turkish rulers have completely identified themselves with the Armenian policy, I still believe that it would not be completely impossible to reverse this policy, particularly now that the objective of weakening the Armenian element of the population has largely been achieved.

http://www.europeana1914-1918.eu/en/contributions/6911_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

http://www.katikati.co.nz/kk_text/anzac_busby.html_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

On 20 January 1918 a cyclone with wind gusts estimated at 195 km per hour hit Mackay. Thirty people were killed in Mackay and Rockhampton. In Rockhampton 1400 homes were damaged by the subsequent flooding of the Fitzroy River.

A storm surge created waves of up to 2.7 m which broke in the centre of the town. The cyclone generated rainfall of 1141 mm over three days which flooded the Pioneer River. Further south, the Fitzroy River at Rockhampton peaked at 9.3 m where on 23 January six people drowned. The news of the disaster did not reach the outside world for five days due to the breakdown of available communication links.

http://www.emknowledge.gov.au/resource/?id=31_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

Langeran France Jan. 20 1919
Dear Folks I am well and still in France and expect to leave anytime now. I got a letter from Eliza as she was leaving Scotland for Brest France. She sent me a picture of the place she was staying and it is a pretty place but you cant tell much by the pictures as some fine pictures are taken in France and the land is poor. This is the best place I have been in yet. You told in your last letter dated Dec. 30 and told about eggs being 68 cents. I got a letter from Beth and she said pigs was all dead and told about her Christmas presents. I like to read her letters and so do the other boys. She uses some queer phrases.
I got a letter from Mrs. Pepper and she still sending the papers but I won't be able to get very many more as I will leave so soon. I have a hard time to think of anything to say as our letters are still censored and I don't know just what would pass so I will close hoping to hear from you soon from your son Private Edward Tanner Co A 144th Machine Gun Bn American E.F. Via New York

Tues. Jan. 20 [1914] - Shore the 33 lambs. In afternoon Margie + I drove to Levin + to Lake where I took two photos (1/2 pl[ate]) of sunset for moon-light effects.

http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/theme.aspx?irn=4520_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avshalom_Feinberg_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

From 1897 to 1905, Alfred Lord Milner had served in South Africa as, variously, Governor of the Cape Colony, Governor of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony and High Commissioner. As such he was one of the key figures in the British administration there before, during and after the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902. In December 1916, Milner entered his first Ministerial office in Britain, having been offered (on 8 December) the post of Minister without Portfolio by Prime Minister David Lloyd George, in the five-man War Cabinet. While not overjoyed at the appointment (he wrote that “my own disposition is strongly against being in the Government at all…”), Milner accepted the position.

While Britain’s military strategy and foreign relations were under constant study and analysis by the War Cabinet, Lloyd George, with limited knowledge of either, looked to Milner’s knowledge and advice (he later wrote that “Milner was much the best all-round brain that the Conservative Party contributed to our Councils”). They both attended a major Allied Conference in Rome in January 1917 at which it was agreed to provide Russia with vital munitions. Favouring a renewed attempt to erode Germany’s position from the East, Lloyd George asked Milner to lead the British delegation of an Allied Mission to Russia (a position initially offered to Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour who had refused it). The Mission had the multiple objectives of attempting to co-ordinate the coming summer’s offensives, reaching an agreement for supplying equipment to Russia and, in consequence, help to boost the Russians’ morale.